Kashmir InFocus reports on September 25, 2024 from Srinagar: This is the first time in recent years that the government has organised a visit by foreign diplomats to the Kashmir Valley to witness the election process
A group of diplomats from 15 countries, including the US, Singapore, South Korea and South Africa, visited Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to observe the second phase of polling in the union territory.
The group, which included US chargé d’affaires Jorgan Andrews, South Korean deputy chief of mission Lim Sang Woo and Singapore’s deputy high commissioner Alice Cheng, travelled to polling stations at various places in Srinagar and Budgam, people familiar with the matter said.
This is the first time in recent years that the government has organised a visit by foreign diplomats to the Kashmir Valley to witness the election process. After the government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir’s special status and divided the state into two union territories in 2019, it organised trips to the region for groups of envoys and members of the European Parliament the following year.
The countries that sent representatives for the day-long visit organised by the external affairs ministry are the US, Singapore, South Korea, South Africa, Norway, the Philippines, Spain, Algeria, Guyana, Mexico, Nigeria, Panama, Rwanda, Somalia and Tanzania, the people said.
Many countries were represented by their deputy chiefs of mission or chargé d’affaires, and some by political officers or counsellors. Among the Indian officials accompanying the diplomats was JP Singh, joint secretary for the Pakistan-Afghanistan-Iran desk and joint secretary in the external affairs minister’s office.
The people said several factors were behind the choice of countries for this visit, including representation from the P-5 or five permanent members of the UN Security Council (UNSC) and from different geographic regions, and ensuring adequate security for the diplomats. In this context, they pointed to recent terror attacks on the armed forces, mainly in Jammu region.
“It had to be a diverse group that could make a first-hand assessment of the situation on the ground. Because of security reasons, it couldn’t be a very large group,” one of the people cited above said. “The group will visit polling stations in Srinagar and Budgam, which are among the places where polling is being held in the second phase of elections.”
Twenty-six constituencies across six districts of the union territory are voting on Wednesday. Among the key candidates in the second phase are former chief minister Omar Abdullah and BJP leader Ravinder Raina. The first phase of polling on September 18 saw a turnout of more than 61%.
Besides visiting polling stations at Ompura area in Budgam and Bemina area of Srinagar, the diplomats also went to Amira Kadal, SP College and Chinar Bagh, part of the Lal Chowk constituency. At SP College, the group toured a special “pink polling station” managed entirely by women.
Some of these polling stations had recorded a very low turnout in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
While briefly interacting with the media, Singapore’s deputy chief of mission Alice Cheng thanked the external affairs ministry for organising the visit to witness the polling, while South Korea’s deputy chief of mission Lim Sang Woo, who was on his first time to Kashmir, pointed to the “vibrant enthusiasm” among voters and said: “This is really democracy working.”
However, a handful of the 20-odd countries invited to visit Kashmir last week declined the opportunity, citing reasons such as the short notice given by the Indian side and the lack of a detailed itinerary, the people said. “The Indian side can only extend the invitation, it is up to an individual country to accept,” a second person said.
The government also has plans to send a second group of diplomats to Jammu and Kashmir for the third phase of polling on October 1, the people said.
